Following the Evangeline Trail : Acadian Identity Performance Across Borders

Following the Evangeline Trail : Acadian Identity Performance Across Borders

From the author: "The poem 'Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie' by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published in 1847, has had an impact on people for generations. The success of the poem was felt not only by its readership but also by the Acadian culture that the poem, and its heroine, came to represent. Evangeline, as character and poem, has evolved in meaning and popularity over the centuries and still plays a role in the cultural performance of contemporary Acadians....This study of Acadian cultural identity utilizes a performance approach that looks at cultural identity as a performative accomplishment in daily life. The analysis first enacts a performance historiography of the Acadian Deportation in 1755, Longfellow's poetic representation of this historical event, and the contemporary context of performing Evangeline in the Acadian diaspora. Next it examines the storytelling performances of narrative interviews with five Acadians. Three of these Acadians still live in the land of Evangeline, in Grand-Pre, Nova Scotia, and the other two live in Maine. Retellings of the story of Evangeline and reflections on the poem and character by each of the participants were analyzed for meanings which form and inform contemporary performances of Acadian cultural identity. The performance methodology allows for meanings to emerge from the embodied Acadian storytelling and to contextualize them in cultural and political spheres...."

Pidacks, Adrienne Marie

2008-08-00

en

Thesis/Dissertation

1755-2008; Maine; New Brunswick; Nova Scotia

No

175

Orono, Maine

M.A., Communications

University of Maine

http://www.library.umaine.edu/theses/pdf/PidacksMP2008.pdf (full text available here)